Journal #27 - Indigenus Springfield

I think that Springfield is very original compared to many other cities in the United States. Springfield is obviously the land of Lincoln, in which we have the place where President Lincoln lived most of his life. This is significant because of how influential Lincoln was to the United States. We have the Presidential Lincoln museum which is an obvious tribute to the former President Lincoln. Obviously we are also the capital of the state of Illinois, which only 49 other cities in the country have in common with us. But Lincoln is the main feature of this city. There are many places named after him as well as streets. He is so famous around here that we gave him his own museum. Other than this though, Springfield is really not that special. There are no real great tourist attractions besides the Presidential Museum. I honestly can not even think of anything that we would be known for. I would have written about the fact that we are the only place in the country to sell horseshoes exclusively, but thanks to someone named Mr. Langley we were given that as an example (haha just kidding). I think that this was actually a trick assignment, maybe Springfield actually does only have one thing that it is original with. And then Mr. Langley gave us an example to get our hopes up of finding something else that is original from this area. Obviously this statement is also asinine, but I just am not creative enough to think of something that is indigenous to this area. Springfield is a great city to live in because there are so many things to do. I guess something that we do have that many other cities do not have is a war memorial. The only reason I thought of this was because I looked back at my other journal entrees because of when I wrote about our veterans day field trip. Other than that there is not much else to Springfield.

Journal #26 - Thanksgiving Break

Over Thanksgiving Break, I went to my aunts house in Athens for a nice Thanksgiving lunch. We did not do the typical Thanksgiving dinner, but instead we had a very heavy lunch filled with all of your typical holiday foods. I had a great time at my aunts house because we celebrated my birthday as well as my dads birthday. My aunt is very creative and created a chocolate cake that looks like a turkey. She used bowl shaped cake pans to form the body, and then put a cupcake at the front to look like a head. Then she iced ice cream cones and stuck them in behind to look like legs. There are some things that I learned about my family though. We have it pretty good compared to many other families in the world. For my birthday on Friday, i recieved everything that i had asked for as well as a birthday lunch and dinner with my friends. Life is really good for my family. Also while I was working at Barnes and Noble on saturday, I was having a conversation with one of my co-workers about families and Thanksgiving. What I had noticed was that the woman I was talking to had no respect for her family as well as no nice things to say about her family. This woman hated spending time with her family, where as I realized I love spending time with my family. I get along with all of my cousins and aunts and uncles. There are no conflicts in my family that can not be resolved, but this woman kept saying how much she hated holidays because she hated spending time with her family. I realized there how lucky I was to have a loving family that has good morals and values, because I do not think that having the added stress of hating your family is a very good thing to have on top of school, extra ciriculars, and work. Therefore, on this Thanksgiving I am thankful for the clique (clee shay) of family, because of the high regard we have for each other. It makes life a whole lot easier having a family to be there for you.

Journal #25 - Red Badge of Courage

I read a critical review written by Harold Bloom himself. He made many valid points about this book, but there are some things that I do not agree with that Bloom had said in his critical analysis. Bloom relates Crane to many different writers that preceded his lifetime, and I do not like this very much because it makes me feel that Bloom is taking away from Cranes originality put forth into that book, Even though he had to attain most of his information fom interviewing people who had actually ought in the Civil War, he did an amazing job at reliving the war and writing about something that he actually was not even alive for. Bloom may have a valid point to get across, but I feel that he could have done it in a much less condescending way. I agree with most of Bloom's analysis however. Bloom makes the comment at one point which says that the story is mostly a story about fear, which is kind of obvious but very true nevertheless. Bloom also made the point that Crane's writting style was impressive because he had not been there during the Civil War, he noted how amazing the imagery had been comparable to the actual events that had happened. I completely agree with Bloom on this sense because while I read the book, I also noticed the great sense of imagery. This was very useful so that we would have the opportunity to relate to the people who were in the battles. I could get a feel for why he was so scared throughout the whole story, because of the great imagery. The amount of fear in the book makes you think about how horrible the war was to people and how greatly it altered the soldiers lives. These people were constantly living in the face of death, and I never even stop to think about that. Bloom says how this book is such a great representation of what really happened in the war and how the real soldiers reacted to the war. I completely agree with this because it is totally true.

Journal #24 - Red Badge of Courage 9-20

In chapters nine through twenty of the Red Badge of Courage, Crane represents realism in many different ways. He represents a realist hero during this portion of the book because of the changes that occur to Henry. During the beginning of the book I have noticed that Henry was an immature teenager who thought that he was indestructible. After he runs away from the battles during the previous sections in the book, he gets a chance to redeem himself in these chapters. What he does is he ends up firing his weapon wildly into the enemy, which then his captain considers Henry a war machine. This boosts Henry's confidence even though he really had not done anything too heroic. At this point, Henry regains his indestructible thoughts, but now he is much more responsible which how he thinks. He ends up gaining the confidence to run out in the midst of battle and grab the flag and wave it around. I do not like how he acts towards Wilson during this part of the story because he is very rude to Wilson and almost competes to be more patriotic than Wilson is. I think this is not good because this is not a good way to be patriotic. The qualities of a realist hero also ties into the human nature aspect that Realism represents. These traits of guilt and taking advantage of the events to better your situation are real traits of real people, and this is why they represent Realism. I think that because these actions are so natural to humans, it gives credibility to the story as well as giving the characters a realistic touch. The author does not mention religion very much in this story, which is fitting to the realistic writting styles. Imagery is a big part of the figurative language that takes place in this novel. The fighting scenes are described very vividly to were you feel as if you are there.

Journal #23 - Red Badge of Courage 1-8

Chapters one through eight of The Red Badge of Courage are a very interesting way to look at the Realism literary period. One of the characteristics of the realism period is the hero, which is supposed to be just the average person who can be put into extraordinary situations. This is shown by the novel because the main character is an ordinary teenage boy who aigns up for the army during the civil war with the dreams to become the real American hero. Another quality is the reflection of society in the novel, which in this story is shown during the beginning of the novel when Henry signs up for the army. This exihibits society because in doing this action, all of Henry's peers are sad that he is leaving and everyone congragulates his for signing up for the army. These people treat Henry almost as if he had already fought in the war and had already killed many people in route to become the true American war hero. Nature is represented during the realism period as a form of protection against society and it's harms. This is proven as Henry runs away from the battle, because the forest is concealing him from all of his comrades as he runs away. Human nature is also i big part of realism, becuase the authors give real uman emotions to represent what happens in the story. Henry feels very guilty after he had run away from the battle, however he tries to justify himself. I think that he tries to justify himself because this is common human nature to try to make yourself not come out as the bad guy. He also shows human nature in the beginning of the book when he signs up for the army. I think this becuase when he first signs up for the army he is very confident and he has the "superman" complex where he feels as if he is invincible because he is so young. But this changes throught the story considering he runs away from the battle during these first eight chapters.

Journal #22 - Veteran's Day Field Trip

Last friday we took an all school field trip to four different sites in Springfield. This was a very interesting experience that provided me with a lot of information as well as a day off of school. I do not know the names of the places that we went, so please bare with me. The first place that I was at was at some building that was built in like 1900 or something (Mr. Langley I was in your group so you should at least know what I am talking about). I thought that the different wax sculptures were a good representation of the people who fought in each of the wars. The day in general was long and tedious, but I think that was due to the fact that we were bused to so many places, the busing has a toll on your body and mind. Anyways, the most notable thing that I remember from that place was the trophy looking thing that was silver and had a man stabbing a bison looking thing. I thought that that was a really cool looking sculpture. The second place we went was the memorial place. I did not like this place very much, mostly because it actually required thinking to complete the worksheet, however it was not so bad. I think it was neat how we took traces of the names on the wall in crayon. I also really liked the giant soldiers inside of the bell thing that represented a person from the four different types of armed forces. We then went to the airport, which would have been better if I was not dying of hunger. After we went there we went to eat lunch, which was probably the highlight of my day. That is still saying a lot because it takes a lot to beat a footlong spicy italian sub on wheat with lettuce, tomato, pickle, banana peppers, and mayo. Then we went to the cemetary to end the day, which I thought was a very nice gesture in giving a carnation to a grave. After I had my person found and completed, I walked around for the rest of the time looking for a veteran whose birthday it would have been (it was Noevmber 13). The weird part was that after searching for 35 minutes, I was yet to find either a birthdate or a date of death on november 13th! I thought this was amazing because I had looked at hundreds of graves! But I was respectful in doing so and I tried to avoid disturbing anyone. Then we went back to the school.

Journal #21 - Lifelike Dreams

I have had some dreams in the past that have felt like they were actually happening to me. I also have had a reoccuring dream that I have dreamt about a lot of times. It is actually very similar to the music video for "It's Not My Time" by 3 Doors Down. If you have not seen this music video, then I can probably just describe it to you. In this dream, I am getting chased throughout a residential area by various things. Sometimes it is people I know, or sometimes it is imaginary characters that I have seen on the television, or something along those lines. This seems so lifelike, because this is something that can actuallly happen (not the imaginary character part, but you catch my drift). It is scary because in one of these dreams, I am getting chased by an attack dog. This has never actually happened, but I am honestly scared of that because I would probably get hurt very badly when the dog catches up to me. Whenever I wake up from this dream I always am very paranoid and I do not like waking up to this. It has been a very long time since I have had this dream though. There is another dream that I have had many times, which is when I get in a car accident and end pu getting paralyzed from the waist down. This is something that scares me and could be very realistic. If this were to happen I would no longer be able to play golf or run track as well as people would be looking at me differently. This dream really freaks me out because I love to do these things and I do not know how I would live with myself if I could not do these things. These dreams scare me and I think that they have a conection to our real lives. I really do not remember a lot of my dreams so I do not get these dreams very much.

Journal #20 - My favorite Tall Tale

My favorite tall tale is the tortoise and the hare. I like this story a lot because I like animals. I also like it because I run track and this story has to do with a race. The main moral to the story which is slow and steady wins the race is a timeless message which teaches a good lesson to people. Honestly, I think that most tall tales are not very good and I get really bored while reading them. but this one happened to catch my eye. The fact that a rabbit is racing against a turtle is a fasinating subject. Here is a little background on the story for all of you that may not be able to remember it. So there is a hare, obvously, and he boasts a lot and says that he is the fastest animal in the forest. He was always giving the tortoise a hard time because he knew that he was the slowests animal in the forest. But, the tortoise is a bold reptile and he says that even the hare can be beaten so he challenges him for a race. The course was set and everybody was eager to watch the race. At the start of the race, the hare and tortoise were ready to go. At the start of the race, the tortoise took off at a slow speed. Seeing that his competition was soabsolutely slow, he decided to take a nap right there on the spot. He woke up some later and raced ahead to see that the tortoise had not made it very far at all. So, seeing how he was hungry, the hare stopped to eat some cabbage. The hare checked the tortoise again, and he was only half way through the track. Speeding ahead to get infront, the hare stopped again and decided to stop for another nap. Waking up with a jolt, the hare saw that the tortoise was meer feet away from the finish line. He speeded at an outrageous speed and tried to get there in the nick of time. But, to his dismay... he was too late. The tortoise had crossed the finish line and he had won the race. The tortoise said "Slowly does it every time!"

Journal #19 - Vengence

Vengence is not good. I do not like it when people avenge themselves if something had gone wrong. I honestly do not think that there is ever a good reason to have vengence on someone. I like to think what goes around comes around. If you are to to have vengence on someone, you are stooping yourself down to their level and you are showing how truly weak you are. This is why I like to let things go, because usually when someone does me wrong it is not very important. One time a long time ago, a person to be left anonymous stole one of my pencils in broad daylight and broke the lead. I was very mad because I had to go to my math class next, and this was my only pencil. I decided to not take vengence on this person because I knew it might lead to an all out war. This was not a very big deal, but if I had gotten back at this person, then we would have just gone back and forth and it might have gotten out of hand at some point. We would take each come back to the next level and eventually it might turn into something serious. I am glad that I stayed calm and just borrowed a pencil from someone else because a war like this is not what I would want to fight. This is a good examlple of why vengence can not be a good thing, even when someone deserves something bad to happen to them. I like to think that I am a calm person and that i think rationally. But this is a good reason why vengence can be such an awful thing. On the contrary, vengence can be a good thing when batman gets revenge on his parents death. He avenges his parents by killing two face, in the originals, this is set right because two face was a corrupt individual. Batman aslo makes this up by serving Gotham City and protecting it.

Journal #18 - Biggest Fear

My biggest fear would have to be not achieving my best. I have already been sucessful in a lot of things in my life, such as golf, track, school, and other things. One of my biggest fears would be if somehow I lost all this and could not do this anymore. One thing that would take away the athletic aspect of my fear would be becoming paralyzed such as if I had gotten in a car wreck. Then I would not be able to use my legs which would end my athletic career. Another thing that could end my acedemic career of having very good grades would be a head injury. I do not like to think that I would not be able what I have always done before. Another big fear that I have is getting in very big trouble, such as with the law or even just with something at school. I have never been much of a trouble maker and I like to think that I keep to myself when it matters. But I have such a strong concience that whenever I mess up or am mean to someone, I usually feel very bad and do not want to continue being mean. I do not like to be mean becuase of this feeling, I never feel good after saying something rude to someone. I have been raised by my parents in a way that promotes good behavior as well as good manners. I like to think that I use these qualities in everyday life. I try to follow the good example that my mom and dad have presented to me. I have always been afraid of getting in trouble with the law, even though I have stayed away from bad things such as drugs or other illegal substances. I have only had one detention in high school, and it was for inconvienently taking a trip to the bathroom during Mrs. Blemlers class. So considering that, I think that I have stayed away from this fear and have stayed out of trouble.

Journal #17 - Peaceful Protests

I think that peaceful protests are an important thing to society, because fighting does not solve all of anyone's problems. By using peaceful protests as a way to get what you want, you avoid harm to any one person and you can help maintain a peaceful atmosphere around any communities. There is no reason to fight in this world, or there are at least only few times when fighting can resolve issues. During the civil rights movement, the African Americans used sucessful types of protesting that cause no harm to other people who opposed their beliefs. These events included marches that walked for many miles, boycotts, or even sit-ins. These things were great at resolving violence, because they promoted peacefullness. These people had the right idea. I think that because of the way that these people conducted themselves, they saved millions of people hardships. If these people had brought violence into their protests, they would have scarred millions of people beccause of all of the death and destruction that could have happened. Had these people turned to riots, they would not only have affected themselves, they would have also affected their family, cousins, friends, aquaintences, and anyone they will meet in the future. Violence brings chaos, and I think that we all know for a fact that chaos is almost never a good thing, infact I do not think there is any instance when chaos isa good thing.
I always wonder why people resort to violence so often. It does not accomplish anything more and all it does is hurt the people around you. By being peaceful, you prove that you are a rational human being who has at least some sophistication. I personally feel that when a person uses violence that they are reverting back to our childish behaviors. Something like this shows how truly childish millions or people are as well as shows how immature a lot of people are in this world. By using peaceful protests, people can create a much nicer enviroment to live in.

journal #16 - Self Reflection Away from Society

Getting away from the pressures of society is an important thing for many people because it is such a calming thing. You do not realize how relaxing nature can be if you are experiencing the correct kinds of nature. Taking some time for yourself is also very important because it is nice to think and sort out any problems that you might have, or possibly think about the great accomplishments that you have achieved. I personally like to take my dog for walks which is a good time for some self reflection as well as giving both my dog and myself some good exercise. I also like to take my personal thoughts to the golf course, because when you are out in the middle of the woods for four hours hitting a ball, your mind can wander. I have actually had some of my best ideas out on the golf course. This is such a great place to reflect on your thoughts and ideals. There are so many pressures in society, like for a student we have to deal with homework, projects, tests, extracurriculars, family events, church activities, and many more things that add stress. Even your social life, your friends, cause unnecessary stresses that can make you angry or uncomfortable. Getting into nature, or not even nature but just some alone time, is a good way to feel better about any situation. It is a good time to put things into perspective for yourself and the people around you. When I am walking my dog, I find so many topics to think about that help give me a better outlook on any situation that I amy have put myself into. I like to take really long walks with my dog to give myself extra time alone. I also like to take very long showers, because not only does a hot shower relax your body but it also gives you a lot of time to think and ponder about your life.

Journal #15 - Reading for Entertainment

I have honestly never been much of a reader when it comesto novels. But one piece of writing that I always enjoy to read are magazines, especial sports magizines. My dad gets Golf Digest every month, and considering my golf fetish, I also love to read about the latest tips to the game. They also always have a section in the magizine that talks about new golf courses around the world as well as the best golf courses around the world. I love reading about these courses and hoping that someday I might get to playthem sometime.

Even though I do not read too many novels, one writer that has always caught my attention is Clive Cussler. He is a writer of action novels and I like his books because they actually grab my attention because of all of the action happening in his stories. He usually has some intense plot twists that take me along for the ride. He has a series called the Dirk Pitt series, he is the main character, that contains about 20 books. I have read many of them and hopefully I will finish the series at some point because I am really ecited to know how Dirk Pitt;s story ends. I hav seen him go through so many adventures that I really would like to know how his life ends. I would almost compare him to someone who is like a James Bond type of person. I think that Cussler's writting can be really cheesy at times due to his use of very cliche references, but regardless of how unoriginal some of his ideas are, they are timeless to me because I love to read his works. Cussler makes reading fun for me, becasue when I read his books i completely loose track of time. Magizines are a little bit easier to start reading though because an article does not take very long to read. However sometimes I wish that the articles were a lot longer.

Journal #14 - Ideal America

The ideal United States to me is a place where there is no corruption in the government. We have seen lately on the news that there have been people, such as our former governor, who had been corrupt. This casues bad things constantly because of their influence on the public. Everybody seems to want similar things in this world, obviously one of these things is money. There are a lot of poor people in our country and this is something that needs to be stopped. However, we would have to change our whole system around of capitalism, because there is almost no way to make everyone financially equal. Obviously a great addition to America to make it the perfect place would be making everyone peaceful with one another. This would take all hate crimes away as well as violence that could cost someone their life. The fact is though that being free allows people to do what they want, and if this involves violence then I guess this is just something that we all will have to live with. This is why sometime freedom needs a definition, because by allowing some people to be free, we allow people to cause havoc and chaos. This is obviously not something that law abiding citizens like myself like to deal with on a daily basis. But there is nothing that we can really do about it. So I come to realize now that there is no realistic way to achieve an idealistic America in which all people are free. I wish this were not true but it really is true. There are always going to be people taking more control than they can handle and there are always going to be people who hide in the corner because they do not want any responsibility. But there needs to be a better way to keep the power in the right place without letting horrible things happen such as corruption in the government.

Journal #13 - My Favorite Sport

When many people think of a sport, they do not think of relaxing. This is what golf does for me. Just being apart of nature for a few hours can really blow off some steam. I especially like the part when you hit a ball as far as you can hit it. But it is more than that, Golf is applying yourself to the situation. Such as if you hit a bad shot, you can not just get mad and hit the ball harder, you have to stay alm and put a good swing on the next shot. Getting mad hurts you in golf where as in a sport like football it helps you. This is one reason why I like golf and why I am quite good at golf. I am naturally a calm person, to the point where I would not have much of a killer instinct that a person might need to football. Golf is also more of a mental battle thatn a physical battle. Obviously, walking a few miles with a somewhat heavy bag on your back is not too physically demanding for a healthy sixteen year old. But that is not even close to what it takes to be a good golfer. I like the fact that having a strong mental game is most of what golf is in the first place. Technique is a main feature in golf as well as some athletic ability. I like that you can practice a lot and be better than someone who is flat out the best athlete on the course. The main thing that I love about golf is the fact that you are being apart of nature. I love walking through these heavily wooded areas looking for my ball, in the midst of a nice day. There is a great feeling that comes over me just for being apart of that. Another thing that I love is the quest for the perfect shot. When you get to the point where you are pretty good, you will probably only hit maybe one of these shots in a round. But when you hit the perfect shot on the sweet spot with good form, it makes you feel like a pro. Just attempting to hit this shot is something I love to do.

Journal #12 - Declaration of Change

I see people doing things that they are not supposed to be doing everyday of my life. I do not like seeing this because I am a person who likes to abide by laws and do things the righteous way. In some classes I have, I se kids acting out and bring annoying just to get on a teachers nerves. These kids do not work hard and slack all of the time. The make a living from being useless and annoying. I would like to see these people turn their lives around and start working hard to become the best person that they can be. This would be nice to see, instead of these people continually make others feel bad about themselves. I almost want to help these people help themselves, but the would never even give me the chance if I tries because these people do not even care abou their future. Change is essential for these people to be sucsessful. I have a cousin that had struglled fitting in as a freshman in high school. This is when he got involved with drugs, more notabley pot. He is such a nice kid, but his "friends" started getting into some trouble and he followed them. He had one of the greatest turn arounds I have ever seen! From the time that he aws caught smoking pot as a freshman, he got his grades back to getting straight A's by the time he was a senior, as well as an all state tennis player. He is even playing tennis at Dennison College right now. He is an amazing person and this is all because he changed his ways. This is a great example of what I am talking about. These people who get in trouble constantly can still change their life around to the point where they are great kids. They just need the push of some positive influences. Change is a good thing because it can turn around someone spiraling down towards bad things.

Journal #11 - logic/reasoning vs. emotion for support

This topic kind of confuses me, probably because I was not at school today when he assigned it. But anyways, logic and reasoning is a very strong tool to use when trying to support an argument or any unjustice. There only seem to be a few things that emotion does a better job of supporting. One of these things is religion. Logic and reasoning have virtually nothing to do with religion. This is obviously because religion is based off of faith, not scientific fact. In religion, the only factual proff is the bible. Things such as miracles have no meaning in the logic and reasoning side of the spectrum because they are "theoretically" impossible.
Logic and reasoning have good uses in the real world. By using these concepts, you will make smarter decisions more often. You will do this by predicting patterns or behaviors of people to make the best possible choice at hand. For example, on the golf course today I had put myself into some sticky situations by hitting some bad shots. I had some decisions to make, go for the green or lay up and avoid the risky shot. I ended up laying up and saving a par on the hole. Had I not done so, I could have easily put the ball in the hazard and took more strokes than intended. By making smart choices like that, I saved strokes which kept my score in the eighties. By reasoning through the hole, I gave myself the best possible chance to shoot well. If I had applied emotion to this situation, I would have been a little bit ticked off and would have tried to go for the green. If I had done so, I would have had put myself into even more trouble. This is why thinking and logic are so important. But do not get me wrong, emotion is important too. Faith is a very important thing to many people, including myself.

Journal #10 - School Spirit

School spirit is a very imortant thing becuase it brings the student body together. Dressing up in school colors gives the students something fun to focus on instead of dwelling over school. I think that being competitive between classes is a very good thing because it makes each class want to win it for their own class. Such things as fundraisers are wonderful to compete in because along with stragtey, the only good way to win is to bring in the most money. By competing in such events, everyone wants to donate because not only does the moeny go to a good cause but it adds an exciting aspect to donating. Homecoming week in school is a very fun and exciting time, because it is easy to get pumped to support your school. You want your team to win so badly that you can not help but scream an cheer for them. I think that activity day is a wonderful time for school because you are allowed to defend your class by competing in games. All of the competition is uplifting towards the overal aspect of school spirit. This is a good thing to have on a friday afternoon because it gets the students who attend the homecoming football game all pumped up to cheer for their team. I am honestly very excited to try to beat the seniors this year at activity day, because we have a very competitive class and think we can win. Hopefully people do not take things too far as to threat people or boast. However, regardless of what happens it is a lot of fun. I want to compete to defend my class because I want to be apart of the first class to beat the seniors ever. At least I am pretty sure that the seniors have never been beaten before. Homecoming is a wonderful experience that joins the student body together to support a common cause, also known as our school!

Journal #9 - Ethics/Values

Having morals and values is very important to being an individualistic person. By having and living by your values, you prove who YOU really are. My parents have taught me many things in my life, and they have touched on having good quality values many times. They have shown me how important it really is to have basic principals that you live your life by. These values are even as simple as honesty. Just simply sticking to the truth is a good ideal to revolve your life around. Another good quality to think about is modesty. This is very important because the farther away from this you get, the less and less people will want to be around you. By being modest, you are putting others thoughts and ideas ahead of your's because you are sincere. You do not praise yourself for being amazing, however you still have a strong self esteem. By keeping in touch with positive values, you can keep yourself from getting into tight situations. You also should have a good idea of right and wrong when sticking to your set of values. Values give people something like a set of rules that you can follow to live a life that you can be proud of. Using values is a good way to keep you life running the way that you want it to be going. By looking at some of Ben Franklins virtues, you can tell what kind of person he was as well as what kind of person that he wanted to be. He had amazing qualities listed in his thirteen virtues that would help a person lead a very moral life. A person who could live by all of his virtues would be a great role model for others and a person that you want surely want in your life. By hanging around with people like this, it has a direct positive effect on you. Certain qualities of others can rub off on you. This is why when thinking about what your values are, you need to consider what kinds of people you are friends with and think about if those people fit around what your values represent.

Journal #8 - Working Together

Working together is a valuable skill to use in important projects like the upcoming English project that I am be doing. We are going to be working with students from other schools, so this makes communication a very important piece that the puzzle that is working together. The main reason for woring in groups is to take the work load off of other people. The only problem is when you have too many people who want too much responsibility, then the people who want to be team leaders will fight over the power and will not get any work done. Another fault in working in groups is if most of the people are lazy workers that do not get much work done. Then the bulk of the assignment falls on the shoulders of one person. This obviously is not good becuase another good reason to work in groups is to get more than one persons views on a topic. Two heads truly are better than one. The clash of power between people can really cause havoc in a group of people working together. Another point that makes working in groups tough is when you have a few people that do not necessarily get along very well. Instead of focusing on the project, the people in the group will be focusing on how the do not want to work with the other person. It may be hard to get much done while the group members are side tracked. Yet another extreme to this is when the people in the group are best friends. Groups with people like this in it will most definately not get very much done because they will be talking about their social life instead of getting the project done. However, when a group of people coincide together in perfect harmony, the quality of work will be tons times better than it would have been if a person had done all of the work by themselves. The group of people would also more than likely finish in a much quicker time than a person working alone. Therefore, even though a lot can go wrong in a group, the only way to have the best result on a project is if you work in a group of people.

Journal #7 - Organized Religion

I think that organized religion is a good source of a relationship with God. The main reason for this is it not only brings you closer to God, but it also joins people together. The fact that people show fellowship relates to how people can work together to achieve something for a greater purpose. Obviously this greater purpose is worshiping the Lord. Organized religion is also an excellent way to share the word of the Lord with people who may not normally attenda church or practice any religion. Instead of people worshiping on their own and not talking to others about their faith, they can give other people who might not believe the chance to worship among others of their faith. It is a great way to show the acceptance of people by allowing anyone to worship with the church. I think that by worshiping with others, the whole experience that a person might have with the Lord are elevated. People can give their own gifts back to the Lord by singing or dancing of some sort to express their faith. By allowing people to give their own special gifts, people can experience different kinds of ways to express their faith through the church as well as enjoy their time spent at worship services. This is important because someone who may enjoy their time at worship might take more away from the message than a person who was bored and had a wandering mind. Fellowship is very important when it comes to worshiping. It is so important because people are stronger as a whole than seperate. People can accomplish more in groups than by themselves. People in these groups are able to raise money for good causes, volunteer their time, or even greater help. THe fellowship can help the human race show their faith to the Lord in many ways that are much more helpful to mankind. I think that organized religion is a wonderful thing that has been happening for a very very long time.

Journal #6 - Blame

Putting the blame on other people is a significant trait of many people. Almost every person on the face of the earth does it becuase it is apart of our human nature. People seem to do this when they fail at something because they are trying to cover up what they ahd done by turning it into somone else's problem. I think that people mostly put the blame on other people as a way of coping with their failure or possible as a way to make themselves feel better about doing something wrong. People might also blame people because they might not want to get punished by some sort of oppression. By blaming other people of our faults, we push those people away from us and may make that person feel insignificant. Putting the blame on other people can really hurt close relationships as well as hinder the process of teamwork. Working in a group, if something goes wrong and team members begin to blame their teammates, the whole team ends up failing just because no one could take responsibility for their actions. The team would have been sucessful had the person who was to blame had just taken the blame like a responsible person. Then the rest of the team could stop pointing fingers at each other, because by doing this they stop focusing on the focal point of their mission and begin focusing on hurting their own teammates feelings. I think that people can learn to work together better by holding back this natural instinct to blame other people. Blaming others can cause a lot of people hardship and pain. Blaming others is like a chain, there multiple links that hook together. If one person blames someone, then another person has to continue on and blame another person, as well as another person conitinuing on the trend for a very long time. This is why blaming other is such a bad thing, it is essemntially the same thing as a really bad lie that builds up.

Journal #5 - True Colors

After taking the true colors quiz, I learned that my color is Gold. Upon looking at the reasons why I was known as a gold, I agree with the quiz. One of the main attributes of a person who is gold is the fact that they are very responsible. I like to think that I am a responsible person who is very prompt and committed. The gold people are also known to be neat and independent. I have always been a very good worker when I am independent compared to team working becuase I like to do things myself. I like to have control of situations and make sure that if I am wrong that it is my fault that I am wrong. The gold people also are typically known for their traditional values. I like to follow in the tradition of my ancestors because it is all that I know. You cn expect me to be on time, think rationally, and be practical with my thoughts. I also am polite as well as making sure that I stick with my promises. In the power point presentation, it says information on how to relate and how to not relate with a person of a certain color; I agree with several of the bullet points that the power point talks about. It says not to expect a person like me to challenge the laws or any established rules, which describes me exactly. It also says things like not to use profane language around me as well as forcing me to take risks. The gold color really describes me becuase of all of the points that the power point makes. It also says things like to not demand too much immediate change or to not expect someone like me to be spontanous. These are all very true and make a lot of sense becasue I tie a lot of those values into my own life. The true colors makes a lot of sense.

Journal #4 - Categorizing People

It seems that people like to separate others into different categories. Personally I do not like this very much because it could make it hard to fit in for some people, but this is just the way society is. People at my age tend to put labels and stereotypes on people. Such examples of stereotypes in a high school could be the jocks or the nerds. The list of names goes on and on, and this is not a good thing. People do fit into certain groups better than others as well as people being friends with people who are interested in the same things as them. I personally do not like to categorize people, but I still do it subconsciously. There are certain groups of people that I do not hang around cause I either do not want to do what they do or maybe I do not feel like I would fit in very well with those people. I mostly identify people with the extracurricular activities that they are involved in, because this usually represents what a particular person is interested in. Identifying people can be somewhat important because you can relate to people by knowing what they are interested in. By identifying people, people can learn to be more friendly amounst others. One can also learn a little bit about a person by identifying them, oviously becuase you can tell what they are interested in. I can tell the people in drama club are more than likely intersted in singing or acting. I can somehwhat safetly assume that people involved in beta club like to contribute to the community by helping others. Simple observations like that can help you learn a little about people. Hopefully when other people identify others they are not passing off judgement. This is not very good becuase it gives people in our student body a low moral or self esteem. So of course people need to be careful while identifying people.

Journal #3 - Losing Everything

Obviously it would be absolutely devastating to lose everything tht I own. But I think that I would be able to stay calm and collected. I have always been a pretty calm person, considerding only a few people have truly seen me mad in the first place. I think this way because losing everything you own would not be the end of the world. Even though I would be without nothing, I would still have my family and friends. Now if you would take away my fmaily and friends, then that would be a totally dfferent story. The people that make up my whole social life are the gateway to my emotions. Losing all of my family would be heartwrentching and would take a lot of will power to get over. That would be of great difficulty to get past. Refrenceing a poem just read for english class, the woman in the poem lost everything that she owned because her house had burned down. She did not think that this event was the end of the world because she believed that ths was the will of God and that He is correct with his will. She thought logically to herself that the house was God's in the first place, it was not techincally even hers. So she realzed that should not be mad because it was God's house that burned down and not her house. This kind of thinking is crucial to keeping a positive mind and good thoughts going through one's head. I definately think thatI would be calm, but I would have so many emotions going through my head that I can not for sure know if I would be mad or not. The case of losing everything you own is a good palce for people to overreact. People might let their emotions get the best of them before they even have time to think about what has even happened. If someone were to overreact to an event like this, then they would not be staying calm and would not have a clean mind. Losing everything is not the end of th world though.

Journal #2 - Significance of Written Documents

Written documents and set rules have a great deal of importance in today's society. If mankind did not have any of these papers and writtings, the human race might take advantage of each other and there would be no order within society. For example, if the United States of America did not have our constitution, the U.S. citizens would be in mass chaos. There could be a lot of looting, stealing, or other great causers of chaos. With no rules, the world would work much differently. People would not have respect for other people's property. Safety is another great reason why mankind have these written rules. The world would not be a very safe place because countries all over the world would be in a state of civil war fighting over certain rights. Peace would be very hard to come by. Take for instance rules in my household, if I were to disobey my parents rule I would be punished for my actions. But if we had not set up a system of rules for me in the first place, I would retaliate back at my parents becuase I would feel that them punishing me would be unfair.

These rules are also significant because they show unity. These documents can be binding between nations to show a long lasting relationship between two countries. This is important because it provides security to the nations. By knowing that countries are working together to find a greater cause for something, this takes away thoughts that the other countries would wage war on them. It helps people as well as countries focus on the right things. With the organization of people comes people working together to develop items and ways to better our lives. These documented rules are typically somewhat easy to follow, and they have so many great effects on society. Mankind has used these rules for hundreds and hundreds of years. Maybe this could be one of the reasons that the human race has developed so much over the last two thousand years?

Journal 1 "How the World was Made"

In Native American Literature, they seem to personify animals a lot. In "How the World was Made", the mountains and valleys were formed from the Great Buzzard when he flapped his wings. This Buzzard must have been of amazing size to have created mountains and valleys, so I think that the Native Americans used a lot of exaggeration.
The story also represents how often women can have babies. The woman starts off having a baby every week, but they realized that the world would become too crowded. The two people are also brother and sister; therefore I can conclude that the Native American culture might be okay with inbreeding. The man even hits his sister with a fish telling her to mltiply. I think that this signifies that the Native Americans might not respect women very much.
The cherokee have a significant relationship with animals because they mention animals all throughout the story. The water beetle needed a place to rest, so he created the earth. This could give support for some hospitality that the Native Americans used by saying that they always made sure that a fellow member of their tribe had a place to sleep. Praying to their medicine is important to their culture also because special power was given to the owls and panthers who stayed awake for seven nights praying to their medicines.

Symbolism for The Old Man and the Sea

The Old Man and the Sea is absolutely jam packed with symbolism comparing Santiago to Christ. I personally think that the overall battle with the Marlin could symbolize the crucifixion of Jesus. All of the peices are there, the betrayal of his hand takes the place of Judas' betrayal of Jesus. The fishing line cutting up Santiago's face and back could symbolize the throny crown as well as the whippings that Jesus was subjected to. The ending when Santiago carries his sail onto shore symbolizes Jesus carrying the cross to his deathplace. Finally, when Santiago falls asleep at the end, this symbolizes Jesus being put in the tomb.

I think that the sharks could have represented the sin of mankind. By feasting on the Marlin, they caused all of Santiago's hardwork and pain go to waste. This is the same concept, Jesus sacrificed himself to save all mankind, yet our sin still feasts like the sharks do. I also think that Manolin represents the twelve disciples of Jesus. Manolin is Santiago's follower as well as his student. Manolin never loses faith in Santiago, even though he had not caught any fish in many months.

Santiago sybolized Christ in other ways too. When Santiago first saw the Marlin with his own eyes, one of his first thoughts was the amount of people that a fish that size could feed. His selfless thoughts signify a greater being inside of him because a normal man would be tempted by the amounts of money that he could reel in. Passion is another good trait that represents both Santiago and Jesus. Fishing was not just a job for Santiago, it was a lifestyle. He poured his heart and soul into his fishing just like Jesus poured his heart and soul into preaching. Santiago's superior traits and skills were much like those of Christ, making Hammingway's book a great source of symbolism.